Council advised to reject power plant bid

Senior News Reporter

Friday 4 November 2011

A public inquiry into a controversial £3 billion coal-fired power station on the Ayrshire coastline now looks likely after planning experts ruled the plant should not be built due to environmental concerns.

coastal site: The proposed coal-fired power station would be built near the Hunterston B nuclear plant. Picture: Allan Milligan

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Alison Campsie

North Ayrshire Council officials have recommended the Hunterston project should be rejected, with councillors due to take a final vote on the plans on Wednesday.

If they follow the guidance of their planning officials, a public inquiry will be called by the Scottish Government to determine the application.

Campaigners against the proposal -- which has generated more than 21,000 objections from those living in the area -- said the local authority position was a “significant boost” to those opposed to the plant.However, pressure groups also urged the Scottish Government to override the need of any public inquiry and flatly reject the “flawed” application. Tim Cowen, of Communities Opposed to New Coal at Hunterston (Conch), said: “We think the report is a significant boost to the campaign and the council report has addressed many of the concerns which we presented to them.“More than 21,000 people have objected to the proposals and we think that gives the Scottish Government a very clear signal that it is not just the people of North Ayrshire but North Ayrshire Council that does not want this development.“Clearly the application is seriously flawed.“We would hope that the Scottish Government will be able to reject this application without the need for a long-running public inquiry at the expense of the taxpayer.”Ayrshire Power Ltd has claimed the new power station -- which would sit between the existing Clydeport coal handling facility at the Hunterston Terminal and the Hunterston B nuclear power plant -- would create around 1600 construction jobs and another 160 posts when up and running.The company also proposes to use experimental carbon capture and storage to limit damaging carbon emissions.The emissions would be captured, turned into liquid and stored underground on site, if that technology can be proven.However, planners pinpointed a number of areas where the application went against local policies, particularly with regard to carbon impact and the effect on the coastline and surrounding landscape.The council report said the proposals had “failed to demonstrate tolerable impact on cultural and natural heritage and offer appropriate mitigation or compensation.”The document added that there was an “absence of sufficient environmental information” and uncertainty about the effects on human health and the habitats of wildlife and marine life posed by the plant.Dr Richard Dixon, director of WWF Scotland, said: “It’s encouraging news that officials at North Ayrshire Council have recommended the rejection of the application for a new coal-fired plant at Hunterston.“Their conclusions are based on a thorough assessment of the proposal and the significant concerns raised by many, many organisations and individuals about the damaging impacts such a power plant would have.“From local wildlife and tourism impacts to climate-change emissions, this is the wrong proposal in the wrong place.“We urge all councillors to support the report’s findings, and its clear conclusion to reject this development.”Environmental groups recently lost a judicial review against a decision by the Scottish Government to include the Hunterston project in the National Planning Framework.It left campaigners unable to challenge the need for the coal-fired power station, with opposition only possible to matters such as site and design.Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-GBX-NONEX-NONEMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0cm;mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}A spokesman for Ayrshire Power commented:“We note the recommendations made by North Ayrshire Council officials. We will be reviewing the report in detail but will not be commenting further until councillors have completed their deliberations on 9th November.”

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Council advised to reject power plant bid

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